The Grey God

"I'll go," Damian said finally. "When I return from my first adventure, you'll have six sons running around the hall."

"I should hope so," Darian agreed. "And you will have a sword notched to the hilt by the number of vamps you killed."

"Oh, yes, I'll kill as many as I can." The young man moved away and began fighting invisible vamps while Darian watched with a grin. "I'll stab and slash and chop off their heads!"

"Keep practicing, little brother," Darian said. "I've got business with Jule."

He couldn't tell if his brother heard or not; the young man was deep in battle with a particularly skillful invisible vamp. Darian mounted his horse again, joining Jule as the Original Immortal led his horse down the beach. They passed the obelisk marked with the White God's lineage. It rose from the beach to the sky and harbored the source of the immortals' power in the immortal world.

"I assume if you had good news for me, we wouldn't be here," Darian said, glancing at his friend.

"There are some strange rumors going around. My Original brethren tell me there will be a split soon between the Watchers and the Others. They'll go back to war."

"I imagine they'll blame you Originals for this one as well."

"Probably. We're warning our respective people to prepare, in case it happens."

"I am warned," Darian said. "This rumor has been around for some time, hasn't it?"

"There's more reason to believe it this time."

"Why is that?" Darian glanced towards his closest friend. Jule's troubled gaze was on the apple trees they passed beneath.

"I can't get into specifics, but two Originals have gone missing. It's a bad omen of things to come."

"You've been a good friend. I'm grateful for your counsel, and I'll protect you as I would my brother," Darian replied.

"Then listen when I say something bad comes."

"I'll deal with it when it does."

"Darian." Jule pulled his horse to a stop. "This won't be something you can battle."

"There's no such thing as something I can't battle, Jule. I'm the White God."

"You haven't lost that arrogance. But you will, if what we think will happen does."

"I trust you more than anyone, Jule, but these rumors of wars between immortals have been around for three generations of White Gods."